On the eve of World Cosmonauts Day (April 12), an American NASA astronaut Daniel C. Burbank showed RBTH around the Gagarin Research and Test Cosmonaut Training Center in Zvyozdny gorodok (‘Star city’), 16 miles from Moscow. Daniel demonstrated how active training equipment works and talked about his life in Russia, its challenges and advantages.

Daniel C. Burbank has logged 188 days in space and 7 hours and 11 minutes of spacewalk time. He served as the Mission Specialist on the STS-106 and STS-115 missions.

His last expedition was on International Space Station Expedition 30, in which he served as commander. With his Russian crewmates, the cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoli Ivanishin, he spent 163 days aboard the space station.

He now works as a director of operations NASA in Russia, preparing future cosmonauts for space missions. Despite having 20 years’ experience, Burbank is sure that he still has much to learn.

“Everybody that does this believes deep down in the hearts that this is something that humanity should do, this is something that represents them, the best that people could accomplish and what they can accomplish together in peace and trust.”- Daniel C. Burbank says.